1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a label printing apparatus that records or reproduces information on an optical disc such as a CD (Compact Disc) or DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and also prints information on a label surface of the optical disc.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the spread of optical discs such as CD-R/RW and DVD-R/RW/RAM has been accompanied with increasing demand for a label printer that can print images and/or character information, which has been generated on a personal computer or the like, on the label surface (upper surface) of a user-made CD or DVD. Also, multi-function label printing apparatuses, where an optical disc apparatus that records information on an optical disc and the label printer mentioned above are combined and enclosed within a single housing, have also entered the market.
As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, in one example of a multi-function label printing apparatus, optical disc apparatuses 102, 103 that record information on a recording surface (the lower surface) of an optical disc, a label printer that prints information such as images and an index onto a label surface (the upper surface) of an optical disc, and a disc conveying mechanism 120 that conveys optical discs are internally provided within a housing 101. In addition, a power supply circuit 130 that supplies power to the optical disc apparatuses 102, 103, the label printer 104, and the disc conveying mechanism 120 and a control circuit 131 that controls the optical disc apparatuses 102, 103, the label printer 104, and the disc conveying mechanism 120 are provided inside the housing 101.
The optical disc apparatuses 102, 103 are composed of CD-R/RW drives or DVD-R/RW/RAM drives or the like that record information by irradiating the recording surface of an optical disc with laser light, and on front surfaces thereof include disc trays 105, 106 on which an optical disc is mounted. The disc trays 105, 106 are provided so as to slide between a changing position where discs are changed and a loading position where the recording of information is carried out.
The label printer 104 also has a disc tray 107 on which an optical disc is mounted. The disc tray 107 is provided so as to slide between a changing position where discs are changed and a printing position where the printing of information is carried out. The label printer 104 is constructed so as to be open to above when the disc tray 107 has moved to the printing position, with an ink cartridge 108 moving in a left-right direction above the disc tray 107. Ink is sprayed from a head 110 of the ink cartridge 108 that moves in a left-right direction along a traveling rail 109 suspended above and across the disc tray 107 onto the label surface of the optical disc to print desired information. It should be noted that in the label printer 104, the sliding stop position of the disc tray 107 is moved in small steps so that printing can be carried out in the entire region of the label surface of an optical disc.
The disc conveying mechanism 120 includes a guide rail 121 that is suspended between a first disc storage part 111 where unrecorded optical discs are stored and a second disc storage part 112 where recorded optical discs are stored, a grabbing part 122 that moves horizontally in the left-right direction along the guide rail 121, and a clamper 123 that is supported on the grabbing part 122. The grabbing part 122 has a raising/lowering mechanism 124 with a pantograph construction in which first and second arms composed of a pair of parallel links are combined, and is constructed so as to raise and lower the clamper 123 and to insert the clamper 123 into a center hole of an optical disc to clamp the optical disc. With the disc conveying mechanism 120 of this construction, an optical disc is conveyed between the first disc storage part 111, the optical disc apparatuses 102, 103, the label printer 104, and the second disc storage part 112.
The multi-function label printing apparatus 100 is a recording/printing apparatus that automatically carries out a recording process that records information to be stored on an optical disc according to instructions from a host computer (not shown), a printing process that prints information such as images and an index on the label surface of the optical disc, and a disc conveying process that conveys discs between the first disc storage part 111 and the second disc storage part 112, so that compared to a system in which an optical disc apparatus and a label printer that are separately constructed are respectively connected to a host computer, there are the effects that the burden of manually changing discs is eliminated and the operating efficiency is increased. However, although optical disc apparatuses and a label printer are enclosed within the same housing in the multi-function label printing apparatus 100, the optical disc apparatuses and label printer are separate devices, so that there is the problem that the multi-function label printing apparatus is large. There is also the problem that the optical disc changing process is complex, which leads to increases in cost.
To solve the above problems, information recording apparatuses for optical discs have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 4) where an optical disc apparatus and a label printer are integrated and the recording of information on the recording surface and the printing of information on the label surface can be carried out on a shared turntable.
Patent Documents 1 and 2 mentioned above disclose a label printing apparatus for discs and an information recording apparatus for optical discs including a spindle motor that rotates an optical disc at a predetermined speed, a pickup that records recording information and is disposed facing the recording surface of the optical disc, and an ink jet apparatus that is disposed facing the label surface of the optical disc and prints printing information, where recording information is recorded and printing information is printed while an optical disc is rotated at a predetermined speed.
Patent Document 3 mentioned above discloses an optical disc drive apparatus internally equipped with a label printer. The apparatus includes a spindle motor that holds and axially rotates an optical disc, a data head that is provided facing a data recording surface and records and reproduces data on the optical disc, a data head driving mechanism that moves the data head back and forth in the radial direction of the optical disc, a label printing head that is provided so as to face the label surface, and a printing head driving mechanism that moves the label printing head back and forth in the radial direction of the optical disc. The apparatus records data on the data recording surface and simultaneously prints a label on the label surface in synchronization with the rotation of the optical disc.
Patent Document 4 mentioned above discloses a recording apparatus including a rotation tray unit on which a disc medium, which is a rotating recording medium, is placed, a rotation tray control unit that controls the tray, a writing means (optical pickup) that writes data on the disc medium, and a recording means (recording head) that records on a disc medium surface (the label surface). The recording apparatus carries out the writing of data and the recording of the disc label in synchronization with the rotation of the disc medium.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H05-238005
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H06-31906
[Patent Document 3]
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-291235
[Patent Document 4]
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-257153
The apparatuses disclosed by Patent Documents 1 to 4 listed above are alike in that an optical disc is placed on a turntable and the recording of information and the printing of the label surface are carried out while rotating the optical disc and in that the label printer uses an ink jet printing method. Label printers can be broadly classified into two types, ink jet types and thermal transfer types. Ink jet printing is a method where printing is carried out by spraying ink onto the label surface of an optical disc using a head, while thermal transfer printing is a method where printing information formed on a transfer sheet is pressed and transferred onto the label surface of an optical disc by a heat roller, and it is thought that the label printers incorporated in the apparatuses of Patent Documents 1 to 4 above all carry out ink jet printing for a particular reason. That is, during ink jet printing, the head that sprays ink does not contact the label surface of the optical disc. During thermal transfer printing, a heat roller is pressed onto the label surface of an optical disc via a transfer sheet, and if the heat roller is pressed on the optical disc in a state where the optical disc is placed on a turntable, that is, in a state where the optical disc has been lifted up from the disc tray, the optical disc will warp, so that it will not be able to transfer the printing information and there is even the risk of the optical disc becoming damaged. On the other hand, with ink jet printing, the head does not contact the optical disc, so that printing information can be easily printed even when the optical disc is attached to a turntable, which means that an ink jet printer is suited to integration with an optical disc apparatus.
However, ink jet printers print by spraying ink onto the label surface of an optical disc, so that if the optical disc is rotated before the sprayed ink has dried, due to centrifugal force the ink on the optical disc can disperse towards the outer periphery of the optical disc or become blurred, so that there is the problem of poor image quality for the printed image. In addition, with apparatuses such as those disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 4 where the optical disc is rotated and printing is carried out in synchronization with the rotation of the optical disc, there is the problem that ink sprayed from the head is dispersed by wind pressure produced between the label surface of the optical disc and the head, which lowers the quality of the printed image and means that the desired printing information cannot be printed properly. Thermal transfer-type label printers have a further advantage in that it is possible to print the printing information more clearly and more stably than an ink jet-type label printer, and it would be desirable to put this advantage to use.